During dental and similar or related procedures, the patient's oral cavity is continually being filled with debris and fluids, including saliva and water sprayed into the mouth. Moreover, depending on the specific location of treatment, the patient's tongue and/or cheek are typically in the operator's way. To address these issues, separate tongue retractors, cheek retractors, and fluid-aspiration devices have been introduced that generally function as separate and discrete devices. As such, the dentist will usually need the help of an assistant in order to benefit from the advantages offered by such multiplicity of independent devices.
In order to address this issue, multi-unit devices have been introduced that combine two or more of the above-mentioned functionalities. Nevertheless, some of these devices have proven to be too cumbersome, as they require, e.g., special attachment units and tools for connecting the device to a vacuum unit. As a result, they are also quite expensive to manufacture and purchase. In addition, some devices are very complex, as they require, for example, both high-volume and low-volume suctioning capabilities, or an additional electrical connection. The latter creates not only a bulkier device, but also safety-related issues that must be dealt with.